Earls is a family owned casual dining chain that operates a total of 65 restaurants in Canada as well as Washington, Colorado, Boston, and Miami in the United States. Their head office is in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.[1]

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Earls was founded in 1982 and the first restaurant was located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Leroy Earl Fuller (b. 1930), the founder, was an experienced restaurateur with over twenty successful and failed restaurants to his name. He opened his first restaurant in Sunburst, Montana, United States, in 1954. The chain quickly formed when Fuller set up various Earls restaurants in his home of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Over the years, Earls restaurants have spread across Western Canada, the United States, and Ontario.

Leroy Earl Fuller first started the restaurant family business in 1954, but it wasn't until 1982 that the first Earls was created in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada by Leroy "Bus" Earl Fuller, his son Stanley Earl Fuller, and George Piper. Starting as a Green and White restaurant, with decorative parrots, Earls first originated as a beer and burger joint for locals in the Edmonton area. Earls funded and opened the Cactus Club start-up in 1988, and the buy out of Cactus Club's Scott Morison who later started Browns Socialhouse.

Earl's has multiple initiatives to improve the sustainability of its operations. Senior purchasing and energy manager Doug Scott explains how Earls "aims to be an industry leader in many ways." This includes modeling sustainability and social awareness, and a commitment to adopt and promote energy efficiency.

Initiating a company wide light retrofit provided several challenges for the company. This required testing a variety of LED lamps to find a type that was dimmable and had the right colour rendering. In November 2011, Earl’s in Richmond retrofitted its lamps, and Earl’s in Whistler then followed suit.[2]

The Ocean Wise program created by the Vancouver Aquarium works directly with food service companies to select sustainable seafood and actively promote them to the general public. The options are highlighted on participating restaurant menus and display cases with the Ocean Wise symbol, to help consumers make environmentally friendly seafood choices. Today, well over 300 restaurants in Canada are participants in the Ocean Wise program. Earl's has been actively involved in this program for several years and promotes Ocean Wise seafood that aligns with Earl's philosophy.[3]

Earls celebrates earth day by featuring its most sustainable menu choices: OceanWise seafood, organics greens and herbs, local chicken, and house-made sauces and dressings. This accompanied by Earls 100% compostable take out packaging line, where all take out packing is made from renewable sugar cane and reed fibre, and printed with vegetable based ink.